Asymmetrical's, anybody into them?

This is my type of schitt. Keep talkin BSnydes. I like where this is headed. Innovation.

 

All things being constant an asymmetrical board makes a lot of sense. That's why you see them tearing up perfect point breaks. I really love the concept and am jealous of people that can actually specialize their equipment to that level, specifically you west coast folks.

East coast folks aren't granted that luxury and have to use adaptive styles rather than adaptive equipment. I think they're sort of the ultra cool fad right now especially if you're going finless even though it goes back to hydrodynamica influences from 50-60 years ago.

I'm obviously out of my league talking shop with you but I like take my design cues from nature. The most dominant and beautiful species are the ones with the most symmetry. It's not until you get into completely isolated environments that you find asymmetrical development as a positive feature in survival of a species.

 

Would you say that's a valid assumption or do you have experience that says otherwise? I haven't spoken to any asym riders or shapers so I'm genuinely interested.

 

I ride an asymm fish shaped for me by Rick Malwitz. The backside is shorter and has a sharper radius than the front side with a different rail outline, and the frontside has a single keel fin, the backside a twin fin setup. I ride this in moderate Rhoade Island surf . . .

 

How do these asymmetric boards work in east coast beach break garbage?

 

Those things have been around for ages. But I have never seen anyone truly rip on them. Great for dudes to talk about but I can't see them helping me make sections, set a rail on late backside takeoffs or weaving through bowls- frontside or backside. Why put a short rail on your heel? To remove glide from my backside bottom turn? To make it feel jerky on said turn? Spread out my top turn when I change rails on the same wave? I say the beauty of surfing and skateboarding is that I'm not attached to the plank except by wax and gravity (unlike snowboards). I can step over here to set the rail on this section and over there for that turn. A good surfer can figure out any shape. I want to see some vid of someone shredding an asym. Get some under the neighborhood legendary beach athlete and record on the same day and wave.

 

Carl Ekstrom makes some neat ones. Wears funky hats too.

 

http://vimeo.com/50142772

It is finless so it may not fit 100% in the convo but you can see how his front side is more powerful when that elongated tail engages with the wave and how he's able to slide out on the backside.

More importantly... its a perfect wave.

 

1986 or so 7'6" T&C asym. Dave Wallace shape. Marvin Foster rode some of these things back in the day in real surf. Don't know if any footage is around but it is an example of a great surfer shredding any board he is handed no doubt. This one is virgin, bright ass neon airbrush by M. Townsend (?), western red cedar stringer, even has purple/fuschia metallic auto paint on the rails. Probably a trade show board from the 80's is my guess.

 

Looks like he is struggling to holding a line like every other finless ride. Standing back foot on the corner with butt a few centimeters off the deck. I don't know if the asym outline makes any difference because he never sets the other rail, only slides it. Weak turns and shallow tracks- the opposite of powerful surfing. Be nice to witness a finned asym in some A-frames under a legit shredder.

 

Slightly asymmetrical with subtle features that serve a purpose = yes

Extremely asymmetrical to the point that it looks like it belongs in a contemporary art museum rather than in the water = no

 

interesting.
Burton snowboards made an Asym board back in the day that I rode it was extremely fast and fun. But they faded away? (the Asym snowboard design)

 

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=htt...43mxD1VOCBhCqJVsmtlsF8tNuVVVisZUJmPVI2mqW&s=1
Here is a vid of a guy on an asymmetric. I don't know if this is what you would call ripping . . .
I don't "rip" because I am not good enough . . . I just try to make a few turns on a wave. And I don't have enough varied experience to do detailed board comparisons . . . I bought my asymmetric board because it looks cool and sounded like a neat concept. My experience with it in Rhody is that it is fast down the line, and turns nicely front and back side. Is it a better ride for me than my symmetric fish? Not that I can detect, but I am only a middling surfer. I would never tell people "oh you gotta have one, they are the bomb," but I like mine because of the novelty factor and I can surf no worse on it than on my other boards in the right conditions. I am not sure I would like a really flat fish in Jersey beach breaks when they jack up fast and then close out . . .i remember lots of short boards at Belmar, Spring lake picking off the inside breaks. But for crumbly waves like we often get at some of the Rhody beaches a fish is a nice alternative to a longboard.

 

The only real value to them is the novelty factor. Why build a planing hull with less planing surface on one side? Lets screw up that precious planing surface with a bunch of crazy rail curves. Wack the long rail off the asyms and call it a day. IMHO there is more to learn from the mini simmons type hulls than asyms, especially in little wave shortboards. Shorten and straighten lines between the feet with a liberal dose of concave to pop it up on top quickly. Let the asyms die along with that acid trip fueled bonzer thing (Campbell bros.?), the least versatile surfboards ever devised by mankind. Less graphic design shaping and more hydrodynamics with the goal being skim, carve, bowl ride, launch on both lefts and rights, junk or quality surf ?

 

That guy is definitely ripping, and he makes it look fun. But 99% of the time I cant stand watching the finless F*ckers crouching down the line. They go pretty damn fast and that's cool. But the finless dudes I've met always seem like they think they are better than the rest of us because they don't use fins. Simply not true, d@mn hippies.
I would like to try an asym, but not around here on the east coast because its not often enough that we get good enough waves to have a really long ride to figure out the subtle differences. Imho

 

When you own a couple of boards with only one being asym, does transitioning to your normal shape take a while? Seems like it would be kind of weird